United flight from Montana to Denver returns with bad sensor

May 8, 2019

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A United Airlines flight from Billings to Denver safely returned to Billings less than an hour after takeoff because of a sensor malfunction.

The Billings Gazette reports the flight took off from Billings Logan International Airport at 11:13 a.m. Wednesday and turned around seven minutes later. The plane circled the airport for more than 30 minutes before landing at 12:09 p.m., according to FlightAware tracking.

Kevin Ploehn, the airport’s aviation director, said it appeared the plane had a bad de-icing sensor, which would make it difficult to show ice buildup on the plane’s wings.

He says there were 48 people on the plane.

Ploehn was not sure if United was planning to re-book passengers on different flights or try to repair the sensor and resume the trip with the same plane.